Turkey and Blistered Green Chile Burgers — The Weekender

Related To:

For the last few years, my husband and I have been in the habit of visiting friends in Northampton, Mass., for the long
Memorial Day weekend. We make the trek from Philadelphia on Saturday morning, arriving sometime in the early afternoon, very ready for several days of catching up, early cocktail hours and lazy meals.

One thing that’s always particularly fun about these weekends is that these friends take their grilling very seriously. We live in an apartment without a stitch of outdoor space, so I’m always excited to have an opportunity to cook outside on a real, live flame (my everyday cooktop is an ancient, soul-less electric stove).

Two years ago we experimented with grilled pizzas (a huge success!), and last summer we cooked up a buffet of sausages, from-scratch veggie burgers and a mountain of grilled vegetables. As our visit approaches, I’ve had my eyes open for new recipes that might work well on their deluxe grill.

Right now the top contender for this year’s weekend of grilling is Guy Fieri’s
Turkey and Blistered Green Chile Burger. This isn’t just any regular-old turkey burger. It’s spiked with mustard, Worcestershire sauce and plenty of green chile that’s been roasted, peeled and diced. Topped with melted cheese and sauteed peppers and onions, it’s a tender, juicy burger that just screams "cookout." We’ll be making it on Monday for our Memorial Day
Weekender. I highly recommend that you do the same.

Before you start cooking, read these tips:

— If roasting your own green chile seems like a step too much for you, know that you can buy small cans of green chile that have already been blistered, peeled and diced. You won’t get quite as much flavor from them, but they’ll certainly do in a pinch.

— Remember that turkey burgers must be cooked until every hint of interior pink is gone. If you have a meat thermometer, it should read 165 degrees F.

— If you’re cooking for a crowd, you can easily make up a double or triple batch of these burgers early in the day. Keep them in the fridge until just before grilling.

Marisa McClellan is a food writer and canning teacher who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her food (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. Her first cookbook, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round
, is now available.